As Telegraph Media Group signs up as the media partner for Goodwood, Andrew
English talks to Lord March about the history of the Festival of Speed and
Revival meetings.

"Do you think it'll work?" asked the ex-Etonian, Earl of March and Kinrara, as I kicked a kerb stone outside his home, Goodwood House. It was the first and only time that I have ever heard Charles March express even a scintilla of self doubt.

That was back in March 1993, the first ever press day for the first ever Goodwood Festival of Speed. Actually it was the second-ever Goodwood hill climb. The first, in 1936, wasn't much more than an informal motoring picnic, hosted by Charles's grandfather, the 9th Duke of Richmond and talented race driver and engineer, Freddie March. He and a group of friends and Lancia owners roared up the drive, which must have planted an idea in Freddie's mind.

That idea flowered 12 years later, when the World War 2 airfield of Westhampnett came to be decommissioned, and Freddie turned the perimeter road into a motor racing circuit, which in 1948 hosted Britain's first post-war motor race meeting at a permanent venue.

In 1993, Charles didn't dare to talk about his dream of reviving the then down-at-heel motor racing circuit, which closed in 1966, although even then plans were afoot. Nor did the tiny turnout at that first Festival press day; a few classic racers and a handful of press, portend just how important the Goodwood name was to become in the motoring world.

"Dunno," I replied. "You'll get a few punters through the door, but you need to do something about these kerb stones."

How wrong I was. That first two-day Festival drew a crowd of 30,000, while "strength to strength" doesn't begin to describe the Festival's rise over the last 16 years.

Car makers saw the Festival as an opportunity to show off their historic models and the public flocked to rub shoulders with race and rally stars, contemporary and modern. Where else could you meet Lewis Hamilton, Giacomo Agostini, Barry Sheene, Jenson Button or Nelson Piquet in a short walk through the paddock? What other motoring event would see a class of current Formula One cars follow the Wacky Racers, Le Mans winners, or Sixties grand-prix Hondas screaming up the hill? In 1999, I was one of the first-ever journalists to ride one of Honda's all-conquering Sixties racing motorcycles at the Festival. I still burst with pride at the thought, although my ears are still ringing.

"I'm glad you think it looks so easy," said Charles March on the eve of this week's 18th Goodwood press day. "But I have to tell you I still think about it all the time. We're worriers down here and that's because we want these events to be a success and that means more ambitious ideas every year."

It's the attention to detail that leaves rival motoring events in the slow lane. While Nick Heidfeld's incredible 1999 all-time record-breaking run in his McLaren MP4/13 F1 car (41.6 seconds) remains seared in my memory, so too, do the achingly beautiful Cartier Style et Luxe cars in the paddock, the air displays of Vulcan bombers, Spitfires, even Boeing 747s beating up the packed car parks. The food, the grandstands, Gerry Judah's amazing motoring sculptures on the lawn, all of these take a huge amount of organisation.

"We're planning about 19 months ahead these days," says Charles, "and I do find it odd starting to plan an event for the following year before this year's has taken place, but that process does reduce the stress and makes the job easier."

But the Festival wasn't quite enough. Cars racing against the clock are a poor relation to them racing each other on a circuit and that's where the Revival came in. Charles took over the management of the Goodwood Estate Company in 1994 and started to combine the various activities on the 12,000-acre estate (farming, golf courses, horse racing, airfield, the Festival and corporate entertainment) into a cohesive whole. Turnover that was less than £9million in 1993 had started to build, but the plan to remodel the circuit was more than ambitious. I would have had kittens at the responsibility, but Charles pressed ahead regardless.

"I have to admit it was disappointing in the first couple of years and at times we did wonder whether it would ever happen," he says. "It was a long, hard slog."

Chichester council and local residents were carefully included in a planning application with more than 100 separate items under consideration. Throughout 1997, an endless convoy of trucks delivered thousands of tons of earth that would form the base for the acoustic banks around the 2.36-mile circuit nestling into the South Downs.

At times it looked more like the Somme than a hard business plan, but when the circuit opened its doors in September the following year (50 years to the day when racing stopped in 1966), the transformation was breathtaking. This old track, where Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill had once raced, looked exactly as it did in its pomp, even down to the flowering hydrangeas along the pit straight and the corn stooks on the infield.

Period dress was requested and 68,000 spectators complied. Cigarette girls stood alongside Land Army girls and Air Vice-Marshals. Spitfires were fuelled on the aerodrome, while pilots lounged on deck chairs reading The Daily Sketch. Mechanics sported white overalls and the men wore trilbies, jackets and ties. It was a fancy-dress panto, with some thrilling motor racing.

Success? You betcha. The autumn Circuit Revival now attracts a crowd of more than 300,000 over three days. And while the cars might be old, there's nothing antediluvian about the close-quarters racing, or the modern race stars behind the wheels and handlebars. In 2002 I raced a Manx Norton in the Lennox trophy in what proved to be Barry Sheene's last-ever race before cancer claimed this world champion motorcycle racer - I still get quite choked just thinking about it.

In fact, the Revival has been such a success there were concerns about the future for the Festival, but Charles again had plans…

Last year, Goodwood held a Moving Motor Show the day before the festival, where the public could see, sit in and even drive the new models. It was a success and this year’s event, set to take place on June 30, is already a sell-out.

Then there was last year’s vintage fashion and music festival where the public dressed up, danced and took tea in styles of the Forties to the Eighties. This, too, was road-blocked with eager visitors.

And now The Daily Telegraph has joined forces with Goodwood as official media partner. After years of writing about it, racing at it and spectating at it, we're now part of it.

"It's been such a great relationship with the Telegraph Motoring editorial team over the last 15 years," says Charles March. "The Telegraph has always been very supportive and we know its readers have been enthusiastic. We are very pleased about this new commitment to Goodwood and I think it's going to go far beyond a mere commercial relationship."

DATES FOR THE DIARY

Goodwood Festival of Speed

June 30-July 3

Adult tickets from £20 for the Thursday to £116 for four-day admission. Concessions for 13- to 18-year-olds; children (12 and under) free. Grandstand access extra.

Goodwood Revival

September 16-18

Adults from £36 for the Friday to £113 for general weekend admission. Concessions for 13- to 18-year-olds; children (12 and under) free. Grandstand access extra.

Horse racing

Meetings throughout season, from April through to October, Glorious Goodwood from July 26.